The Trancy's Ward
by xFallenAngel666x
Summary: When a young girl decides to run away from home and ends up at the Trancy manor her life changes completely when she is taken in as a ward, but will it change for better or for worse? And what happens when what she ran away from finally finds her? This is set just before the second season and is a Claude x OC fanfic. Rating may change.
1. The New Guest

**A/N: so this is my second story now :3, hope you like it, enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or the characters, I only own my OC's**

**Chapter 1: The New Guest.**

The rain felt like icy needles as it pelted against me, stray locks of my chocolate brown hair began to stick to my face as the bitter chill from the gusts of wind started numbing my hands and face. If anyone were to see me, I would have looked like a drowned rat. Regardless as to the state I was in I kept going; nothing could stop me from running. I had left home around the late evening unsure as to where exactly I was headed, as long as I was free from society I didn't care where I ended up.

It was almost pitch black outside, the clouds had completely covered the moon blocking off any light it may have given. My vision had become hazy due to the rain that fell into my eyes repeatedly, however, I still managed to see a forest not too far ahead of me, and I began to make my way towards it, hoping that it would offer some shelter from the infernal rain. It did offer some escape, however not much, as I could still feel it beating down on me. When I left my home it didn't show any signs of a possible downpour, and only hours later did the rain start before it gradually became torrential. Due to this excessive amount of rain the ground had turned to mush under my feet and with each step I took it felt like I had slipped back two and I had started to sink.

I tried my hardest to navigate through the forest without any injuries only to fail. I had managed to fall and cut myself on rocks and branches, one particular gash on my right hand looked rather angry, no doubt it would leave a scar. Not that it could be seen considering the vast amount of mud caked all over me, this still didn't stop me from running. I had chosen to never go back to what I was running from, I didn't care if that meant I would be shunned from society as it meant nothing to me, but I had promised myself that I would never do something I was forced into, if running was the only way to keep that promise, then so be it.

After a few more hours of endless running and falling I noticed that the amount of trees seemed to lessen and it wasn't too long before I was back out into the open, the heavy rain never ceasing. I kept going for a short while longer before I caught sight of a manor over in the distance, the warm lights shining brightly from its windows; it was a welcoming sight indeed. Much to my protest however, the closer I drew to the manor the less my legs were willing to comply. They ached from all the running and the cold had finally gotten to them; no matter how close I was I wasn't going to make it, at least not on my own. Dropping to my knees in defeat all that was left that I could do was to try calling out for help.

I managed to prop myself up with my hands, my knees unable to hold my weight I was now sat on my hip, my legs out to my side. I began to scream at the top of my lungs for someone to come and help me; with each shout my voice became a little hoarser until I had nearly lost it. Tears began to mix in with the rain as they poured from my eyes, no matter how much I tried to will them to stop they wouldn't. I wasn't going to let myself die from the cold all because I wanted to get away from my life, I couldn't let myself not for something like that.

Minutes began to pass, each one slower than the next and I could feel my eyelids begin to droop, the cold slowly taking over. I managed one last glance at my only salvation when I was stricken with fear. A bright light began to creep closer to me; the thought of it being my end terrified me. Luckily the sound of footsteps soon became audible causing a small smile to grace my lips; someone had finally come to my rescue. I let out an icy sigh of relief.

I peered up at my rescuer to the best of my current ability, before me stood a woman with light brown skin and long, pale-lavender hair. The light from the lantern illuminated her and the flames seemed to dance in her navy blue eyes. She looked down at me with cold eyes, I thought for a second that she would perhaps leave me there to die, luckily her gaze softened, soon becoming sympathetic. She quickly helped me to my feet only to have to catch me when I almost fell back down, by this point I could barely feel my legs. She supported me by holding my waist and placing my arm around her shoulders, once she had re-collected the lantern she began to move me towards the manor. It didn't take us very long to reach the front door, the door slowly opened to reveal a small boy with short blonde hair and a tall man clad in black, the boy looked intrigued by my presence whilst the man didn't seem to care. I turned to the woman once more before my eyes fell shut and my consciousness faded. The last thing I saw was the once navy eyes now a seemingly glowing pink.

**A/N: sorry it was short, the other will be longer, hope to update tomorrow, it all depends on if I can get onto a computer XD**

**Hope you guys liked it, please follow/review blah blah blah see you soon ^_^**


	2. A Big Mistake

**A/N: so here is chapter 2, hope you all like it :)**

**Chapter 2: A Big Mistake**

The faint sound of birds chirping gradually began to get louder as I drifted back into consciousness. 'Did Margaret open my window this morning?' I thought to myself as I willed my eyes to open, which they slowly did. It was when I saw the unfamiliar ceiling and furniture that I remembered I had ran away. My mother and sisters must have been very worried when they couldn't find me after the party, but that was the least of concerns at the moment as I was in a stranger's home without having introduced myself or thanked them for helping me. I shuffled around as I tried to sit up to get a better view of the room.

"Please miss, stay still." A feminine voice requested of me, I glanced over to the familiar woman who was ringing out a cloth into a bowl and then dipping it into what I assumed was a clean bowl of water.

"You're the woman who came to help me." I stated my voice was still hoarse so the words barely came out audible.

"I'm glad you remembered me." She said with a small smile as she came forward and placed the cool damp cloth on my forehead, taking me by surprise.

"What's this for?" I tried to question before breaking out into a rather violent coughing fit.

"Please don't strain yourself." She pleaded as she fetched me a glass of water which I gratefully drank. I gave her a small nod of appreciation before placing the glass down  
>on the bedside table.<p>

"While you were asleep I noticed you had a rather bad fever so I took the liberty of calling a doctor, he should be here shortly so please rest until then." She took away the cloth and went back over to the bowls, as she did I caught a glimpse of her eyes and remembered what had happened that night, the rain, the forest, the light from the manor, the two others, her eyes, I could have sworn for a moment they were glowing. I shook off the thought and put it down to hallucination caused by the cold.

There was a loud knock on the door that bought me from my thoughts and caused us both to look towards the door. There was a brief pause before she opened the door and an unfamiliar looking man entered the room carrying a case, I presumed he was the doctor she had mentioned.

"You must be the young woman who was caught in the rain yesterday?" he questioned as he stepped closer to the bed, this time I didn't try to speak and instead just gave him a nod. He placed down the case and opened it, fishing through whatever tools he had in there.

"Well, I'm just going to check your temperature and wounds." he began to do as he said, inspecting all of my wounds, no matter how small they were, I watched his face as he did, noticing every time his expression changed even if only slightly, I was half expecting him to tell me that some were infected. I was lucky, once he had finished his inspection he informed us both that none of my wounds had gotten infected, also mentioning that it was most likely because the woman had cleaned them. However he told us that the one on my palm was going to scar and that it should be kept bandaged for the time being so that I don't catch it and re-open the wound.

After he had finished with my cuts he checked my temperature, once again I watched him carefully.

"You certainly are a lucky girl aren't you, it's just a mild fever, take a day or two to rest and you will be fine." He packed away his things; we both thanked him and he then took his leave. I looked back to the woman who was now collecting the bowls.

"Please get some rest now miss, someone will check on you in the morning." She told me before also exiting the room. I was alone and left staring at the ceiling, I snuggled back down into the bed and shut my eyes hoping that sleep would come to me soon, and it did, within a few minutes I was fast asleep.

**Dream:**

_"Oh Anna dear I forgot to tell you, our mother wants to speak to you so please don't keep her waiting." My sister Margaret told me as she braided her hair._

_"Sister, will you ever stop forgetting to tell me things that are important?" I questioned her, she kept her back to me but I could tell she was smirking._

_"Whatever, I better go and see what she wants." I finished curling my hair before heading down to the parlour where she sat waiting for me._

_"Ah, Anna good you're here, there is something important I must tell you." She said placing her cup of tea on the table next to her chair._

_"Yes what is it mother?"_

_"I know you are all about finding love for yourself, and all that nonsense about doing the things you want to do before you settle down, but I have found you a rather handsome man, after your father died these responsibilities were left to me, so after some conversing with his parents we have agreed on marriage, isn't that wonderful." She said with such glee in her eyes, all that filled mine was hurt, the idea of an arranged marriage made me want to run away, I would never allow myself to be in a loveless marriage, I couldn't live a life like that._

_"Y-yes mother of course, wonderful." I replied before taking my leave and heading back to my room._

_As I pulled open the door to my room, it completely changed, instead in its place was a ballroom. I looked down to see my outfit had also changed and was now a long, lavender ball gown, it looked familiar to me but I couldn't place as to why._

_"Ah! Anna, there you are, go spend time with your fiancé will you, honestly child what kind of wife lets others entertain their husband." My mother grumbled as she pushed me towards my waiting fiancé._

_"One that doesn't wish to be married, mother." I seethed under my breath so that she wouldn't hear me. He stood waiting for me with a rather displeased look on his face._

_"There you are darling, why don't we go somewhere a little more private so that we can talk." He suggested as he grabbed my arm and dragged me off into one of the empty rooms._

_"Alexander, please your grip is hurting me." I whined before he violently slammed me against the wall._

_"You know, you really should pay more attention to me, you seem perfectly fine with spending time with other men." He had a malicious look in his eyes which made me uneasy._

_"What are you implying, those were just old friends!" I yelled as I tried to struggle free from his grasp._

_"I'm implying that you are a slut, so be a good whore and entertain me." A large disgusting smirk stretched across his face as his hand pushed my dress just above my thigh. My eyes widened in horror, how dare he call me that, and how dare he try to take my purity._

_"You pig!" I screamed his smirk turned into a sneer as he pushed me further against the wall forcefully pressing his lips to mine, effectively muffling any further screaming. One hand made its way around to the back of my dress and began to untie the ribbon, I tried my hardest to push him away but to no avail, a single tear fled from my eye as he pulled the dress down off of my shoulders. As he went to undo his trousers I took the opportunity to grab hold of a vase on the table next to me, quickly smashing it against the side of his face causing him to stumble backwards and fall. I took in the sight of the blood slowly dripping down his face, the look of terror in his eyes._

_I gave a small smirk at my success before I straightened out my dress and ran for the front door, once there I swung it open and was met with a bitter wind, that didn't deter me from leaving. I began to move my feet, one in front of the other gradually picking up speed before I had broken out into a sprint, I didn't look back in fear of seeing that I was being chased so I just kept going. I didn't care where I ended up; all I cared about was getting free from that place, from that sickening excuse of a fiancé._

**Dream end**

Once again I awakened to the sound of birds as well as a knocking at the door. I quickly sat up in the bed, ignoring the fuzziness of my vision from sitting up so suddenly, I called out.

"Come in." my voice was no longer hoarse, which was a relief. The door opened and a tall man in a butler's uniform walked in, for a moment I couldn't find any words, I just  
>sat staring at him, the jet black hair which framed his face perfectly, and those eyes like liquid gold; all together he was quite handsome.<p>

"My Lady, I trust you are feeling better this morning." His deep seductive voice pulled me from my thoughts, a slight blush dusted across my cheeks as I realised I had been staring.

"Y-yes, much better today thank you." I answered as I averted my eyes.

"Good, my master wishes to speak with you, I will have the maid help you get dressed, I will wait out in the hall, once you are ready I shall escort you to the study." With  
>that the man turned on his heels and exited the room, seconds later the woman from the other day entered.<p>

"I have bought a change of clothes for you, I hope they fit, you don't mind if I help you change do you?" she questioned, her gaze did not meet mine, instead she stared directly at the floor.

"Thank you, and no I don't mind." I said with a smile before disrobing. I didn't feel nervous at all as my maid back home would always help me to dress, so to me this was normal. First off she helped me with my corset, tying it a little tighter than I would have perhaps liked but it wasn't too bad, I could still breathe at least. Once that was over I proceeded to get myself dressed, I started with the petticoat before putting on the dress, it was a lovely blue satin dress, the top half was a plain navy blue with a black lace frill around the neck and a blue bow situated just below. The waist had a corset like feature which tied with ribbon at the front, the ribbon was black and the corset was a lacy black and blue, the middle section of the bottom half of the dress was black and ruffled the rest of the bottom half was a plain blue, like the top. I slipped into it and tied it tightly at the front and asked the maid to help button up the back of the dress, I then placed on the pair of black, low heeled boots that she had also bought in which she then laced up for me.

"The dress and shoes fit perfectly thank you." I said with a smile of appreciation, she still refused to meet my gaze, I didn't want to question why, perhaps she had just been taught not to look as a guest because she was a servant.

"Would you mind doing my hair?" I questioned, she gave me a small nod before I took a seat at the dressing table. She skilfully worked the brush through all of the tangles and knots in my hair without causing me any pain before she curled the ends.

"Thank you." I said before taking my leave of the room, I didn't want to keep the master of this place waiting too long.

Once in the hallway I spotted the man from earlier.

"This way please, my lady." He spoke before leading me off down the hall, the journey was silent, uncomfortably so. We seemed to take many turns before he stopped dead in front of one of the many doors that lined the hallway. He knocked on the door and I heard the faint reply of 'come in' before he opened the door, motioning for me to enter. I quickly made my way into the room, with each second becoming more nervous, what if my suddenly showing up on their doorstep in the middle of the night had angered them, what if in return for helping me they would want something in return, something I didn't wish to think of. I quickly pushed those thoughts to the side as I stood in front of a desk. I looked up from the floor and my eyes locked with the icy blue eyes of a young boy, surely he couldn't be the master of the manor.

"Oh good, you look better." A wide smile spread across his lips before abruptly changing into a frown.

"What were you doing out in the rain so late at night?" he questioned immediately, taking me by surprise. I didn't know if I should tell him the truth or to fabricate some kind of lie, though I had a feeling that even if I did he would find out the truth eventually so opted for not lying.

"Well…I ran away." I told him, his reaction was _not_ what I had expected, he broke out into laughter.

"Y-you ran a-away, aren't you too old to be running away?" he questioned through his laughing fit.

"Aren't you a little young to be a master?" I retorted, to this he shot me a glare and immediately stopped laughing.

"Why don't you just tell me why you ran away?" His tone was flat and his glare only let up a little. I decided I may as well tell him everything.

"My mother had arranged my marriage to a man that I barely knew." I started.

"So what, that happens all the time." He stated before I continued with my explanation.

"Yes, well, I had promised myself that I would get to do the things I wanted to do before I ever settled down, like finish my studies, travel the world, see the sights of many different countries and to just enjoy my freedom." His eyes seemed to light up as I talked about traveling and freedom, it made me wonder if he had a similar sort of wish.

"I tried to postpone my wedding, and I succeeded, however a month ago, when I turned twenty a postponement was refused and yesterday was the engagement party…I had to run, I couldn't marry that...that monster." I seethed the memory of what he tried to do to me made me want to be sick.

"Oh, and why couldn't you just marry him?" he questioned again, I knew he wanted to know everything and the excuse of me wanting to see the world wasn't going to cut it.

"Because, that night he dragged me off to one of the empty rooms and…he _tried_ and failed to take my chastity, that is why I ran, I couldn't be near that demon." I spat as I averted my gaze to one of the bookshelves, however I caught a glimpse of the boys expression, he looked almost sympathetic, perhaps it was because of what my so called fiancé had done, or maybe it was more serious than that, maybe he had been in a similar situation before, I wasn't going to ask.

We sat in silence for a little while longer before he spoke up.

"Well, considering your situation, I don't think you should go back, instead why don't you stay here?" he suggested, I shot him a look of disbelief, maybe he was just toying  
>with me seeing as earlier he was laughing at me for being so childish as to run away from home.<p>

"I couldn't possibly, I don't wish to impose." I finally answered to which he shook his head.

"You wouldn't be imposing, you could stay here as a ward, you wouldn't have to work like the servants, after all you are of high society are you not?"

"Yes, I am but-" I wanted to continue but he cut me off before I could.

"Then there is no problem, by the way, I'm Alois Trancy." He told me, to be honest I had completely forgotten about introductions.

"This here is Claude, he's my butler, the maid who helped you is Hannah, I'm not overly fond of her, and if you run into the three other servants they are Timber, Thompson and Canterbury, it doesn't matter if you can't remember which is which, they are triplets so it's not that much of a big deal." He continued.

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you two, my names Annabelle Hamilton, though you can just call me Anna." I said with a smile, though I still felt a little uncomfortable as I hardly knew the boy and I was going to be living under his roof for a long time now, it all just felt a little strange. He smiled back at me.

"Well then Anna how would you like to spend your time here?" he asked looking rather intrigued as he awaited my reply.

"I wouldn't mind continuing my studies."

"Well that's boring, but if that's what you want to do then I will hire you some private tu-" I quickly cut him off, the idea of possibly hiring one of my old tutors stressed me greatly, what would happen if they told my mother of my whereabouts, everything that has happened so far will have been a pointless waste of time.

"No, no private tutors, I don't want to risk being found and have to return home, so please, no private tutors." I pleaded; he nodded before pausing to think.

"Alright then, I'll have Claude teach you, whatever it is you want to learn I'm sure he can teach it to you. In fact if you're feeling alright, why don't you start now, I have paperwork to do so it will be fine, wont it Claude." He turned to the man who was now standing beside me, his eyes seemed cold, maybe it was because he didn't like me or thought me a nuisance well either way he was stuck with me now.

"Yes your Highness." He answered before turning to face me.

"My lady what is it that you wish to learn?" he questioned, his eyes seemed like they could see straight through me.

"Well, before I left I was still learning French and music." I told him; to this he motioned for me to follow him. We left Alois to his paperwork and I followed the butler back down the hallway to another grand looking room, situated in the middle was a white grand piano, it reminded me of the one at my home, no this was my home now. I gave a brief smile as I noticed him watching me.

"So we are starting with music then?" I made my way over to the piano and sat down. I ran my fingers over the keys and let out a sigh, I always loved music and I couldn't wait to learn more about it. I was so lost in thought I hadn't noticed him sit down next to me and it startled me when I finally realised. Our close proximity made me feel a little uncomfortable so I shuffled to the edge of the stool.

"Now then, please begin here and stop here." He said pointing to sheet music in front of us, I did as he asked and began to play. All was going smoothly and the melody seemed quite nice, that was however, until I hit the wrong key, then it sounded like a cat dying. He let out a sigh.

"Please do it again, this time hit the right keys." He reprimanded as I began to play again, this time I didn't even get anywhere near the end when I hit a wrong key.

"I'm sorry, it's just I get a little nervous when under pressure." I apologized as I hung my head slightly.

"Then you should relax. However, if you really want to learn then please take this seriously and hit the right notes." He scolded.

"You just told me to relax and then you pressured me, what kind of teaching is that?" I complained my eyes narrowed as I watched for his next move.

"If you do not wish to learn then I will take my leave, I have more pressing matters to attend to anyway."

"You don't like me in the slightest do you?" I interrogated, I knew it all along, I don't know what I did to make him hate me but he should at least try and be civil.

"I never said that, now if you'll excuse me, I must go and prepare some tea for my master." And with that he left and I turned my attention back towards the piano.

I took a quick look at the sheet music before my fingertips gracefully moved across the keys playing the melody perfectly, not once did I hit the wrong key. I played through the whole song once before re-playing it once more, this time I hummed along to it, a wide smile on my face as I hit each note. 'Perhaps he did that so I wouldn't feel pressured after all.' I mused. I spent most of the day in there playing various songs that I found and ones that I remembered from when I was a little girl.

* * *

><p>It was around five in the evening when the maid Hannah came to fetch me for dinner.<p>

"Oh Hannah, I wanted to thank you properly for rescuing me now that I know your name."

"It was nothing my lady, please don't think on it anymore, now, we should get you down to dinner, we don't want to keep the master waiting." She hastily lead me out of the room and after a short walk down the hall we reached the dining room, just like the other rooms in the manor it was a very grand room, and much bigger than my old dining room. I took my seat at the opposite end of the table from Alois. Claude held my chair out for me and I gave him an overdue smirk for helping me earlier.

"So Anna how was your music lesson?" he seemed eager to converse with me.

"It went rather well if I do say so myself, how was your paperwork?" I shot a glance at Claude from the corner of my eyes; he was now brining our food to the table.

"Rather abysmal, I hate paperwork, I would rather spend time having fun, when I'm done with it would you like to spend some time with me?" he questioned. I gave him a bright smile and nodded in acceptance.

During our meal we spoke a little more about my past, I told him about my sister Margaret and about how one time when we were little she caught a cold from being out in the snow too long and I had to take care of her. About how, like me, she had an arranged marriage, however she went through with hers. My sister was a few years older than I, yet maturity wise I was always older.

* * *

><p>After we had finished we both decided to retire, Hannah bought me back to my room and helped me undress. It seemed no matter how hard I tried to feel comfortable here, something just felt off, and I was going to find out what. Once I was sure everyone would be asleep I slipped out of my bed and grabbed my purse from my dresser, in the lining there was a concealed dagger, I made haste to get it out and then strapped it to my thigh with my garter. I wasn't going to take any chances.<p>

I quietly tiptoed out of my room and into the hallway, I checked to make sure no one was wandering around still and when I was sure it was safe I headed down the hall. The hall was nearly pitch black, the only light that seeped in was the light from the moon, that didn't stop me from venturing further through the manor.

I was nearing the staircase when I accidentally collided with something; I made a small squeak of a sound and rubbed my nose before looking to see what it was. My eyes grew wide with shock when I saw that all too intoxicating pair of golden eyes boring down into my own. I was gravely mistaken when I thought no one else would have been awake.

It may have been one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

**A/N: hope to update again soon, hope you liked this, told you other chapters would be longer XD remember to review etc. etc. anyway see ya :D**


	3. His Bad Side

**A/N: chapter 3 is here, enjoy.**

**Chapter 3: His Bad Side**

"My lady, what were you doing wandering the halls so late at night?" his gaze never left mine as he stepped closer as he did I proceeded to step back, until I was against a wall.

"I-I was just taking a walk, I couldn't sleep…" I tried my best to sound convincing but the look in his eyes told me he didn't believe me.

"The knife in your garter would suggest otherwise." He stated, he had me pinned against the wall, an arm placed at each side of my head.

"H-how did you know about that?" I questioned, I could feel my heartbeat picking up from nerves.

"Your nightgown is short, it is easily visible." He explained, I began to tremble a little as he glared at me, there was no doubt he would be much stronger than me, god knows what he might do if he thinks I want to harm the master.

"Now, what are you really doing up at this time of night?" he questioned once more.

"I told you why, now if you don't mind, I will be going back to my room." I tried to push him away but he didn't budge.

"You won't be going anywhere until you tell me the truth." He seemed calm but his expressionless face and emotionless tone made me shiver.

"Why does it matter?" I asked as I continued to try and push his arms away from me.

"I don't want a nuisance like you wandering around and causing trouble, especially when carrying a weapon, after all there is the chance that you wish to harm the master." What he was implying irritated me greatly.

"Firstly, I knew you hated me, secondly if you don't trust me with a weapon then here you have it!" I seethed as I took the dagger from my thigh and pushed it to him.

"And lastly, I would _never_ hurt Alois, only a monster would want to bring harm to a young boy, so I would thank you to never imply that _ever _again, is that understood?" I growled and grit my teeth.

"Of course, however, know that if that were to ever change I wouldn't think twice before killing you, is _that _understood?" I glared at him before forcefully pushing my way past him, I stormed down the hall and back to my room without so much as glancing back, his face was enough to make me want to lash out.

Once back in my room I tried my best to calm down, I started with counting to ten, which usually seemed to work however it seemed that today it wasn't enough. I lay flat out on my bed and stared at the ceiling, my eyes traced the patterns before growing heavy and eventually closing, I was close to drifting into sleep when I heard a tapping at my window.

"Honestly, what now?" I grumbled as I made my way over to the window. I tore the curtains open to find a crow tapping the window with its beak.

"Ugh, stupid bird." I mumbled as I pushed open the window which thankfully startled it and caused it to fly off.

"What did it even want?" I questioned the night air that had begun to rush into the room chilling me to the bone. I quickly closed the window again and was about to draw the curtains when I noticed something small on the windowsill. I bent down to get a closer look and realised that the crow had been after the spider that was perched on the sill.

"Hmm, what should I do with you?" I asked it before taking a closer look, its eyes seemed to watch me and I noticed they were the same golden colour as that irritating butlers. I straightened up and shook my head before returning to my bed.

"Well, whatever I don't care, just don't come anywhere near me." I muttered before once again closing my eyes, this time I managed to fall asleep quickly, luckily it was uninterrupted.

* * *

><p>"Good morning, my lady." I heard a voice call as I slowly opened my eyes, I had to fight to keep them open as light poured into them.<p>

"Oh, Good morning Hannah." I groaned as I sat up.

"What time is it?" I questioned rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"It is exactly six thirty my lady and the master wants you to join him for breakfast this morning, so we must hurry and get you dressed," she answered, her eyes once again  
>downcast.<p>

"Hannah, may I ask you a question?" I asked as I rose from my bed and made my way over to the dresser.

"Of course my lady." She answered as she began to help me out of my nightgown and replaced it with a corset.

"Why won't you look me in the eyes?" she pulled the corset a little too tight and I gasped for air just as quickly as it was pushed from my lungs.

"I'm sorry my lady, I should be more careful." She apologized before loosening the strings.

"No, no it's fine, but please answer my question."

"Because that would be rude of me my lady." She sounded almost upset so I didn't press any further. We didn't speak anymore whilst she helped me get dressed. Today's dress was a simple navy blue floor length dress with a few ruffles of black lace at the bottom and around the shoulders.

We walked in silence to the dining room where I once again took my seat at the opposite end of the table to Alois.

"Anna, you look beautiful again today, how did you sleep, was everything to your liking?" for a boy who let me stay here in _his_ home, where I had no real right to be, out of the supposed goodness of his heart he was trying very hard to please me.

"It was…" I paused as I remembered the events that had taken place a matter of hours ago. I shot a glance to Claude who in turn shot a glance to me. My eye involuntarily began to twitch and my jaw clenched.

"It was fine." I almost snarled, because that was a good was to convince someone I slept well, I mentally scolded myself and tried to smile.

"Good, I'm glad you liked it." Regardless as to my actions he seemed to be convinced. We began to eat our breakfast; though Claude's presence was a little unnerving after all he _had_ threatened to kill me and so I didn't really feel like eating, I barely even touched my food.

"Is everything alright?" Alois questioned, clearly he had noticed my discomfort.

"Is the food bad? Do you want something else?" he continued.

"No I'm fine, it's just, I'm not very hungry is all." I stated before giving him a weak smile, for a moment he looked displeased with my answer before a sly smirk spread across his features causing me to become even tenser.

"Alright then." Was all he said before finishing his breakfast. We sat there for a while in silence as the table was cleared, throughout that time he watched me like a hawk which meant he noticed me flinch as Claude took my plate from me as well as the glare I gave him as he walked away.

"Anna, how about today you start with a dance lesson, in fact I'll join you." Alois finally spoke.

"But I already know how to dance." I mentioned, yet he didn't seem to take any notice as he quickly got up and practically dragged me off to the ballroom.

"Alois please slow down, why are you so eager to learn to dance?" I questioned making him stop abruptly causing me to nearly trip. He turned to me and looked me dead in the eyes.

"I want to spend some time with you, is that a problem, do you not want to be around me." He seemed to almost snarl and I felt bad for questioning his intentions and a little worried about what he might do.

"N-no that's not it, of course I want to spend time with you, why would you think otherwise." I rushed my words as to quickly prevent any fit of rage that he may have.

"Good, now, let's go." His eyes lit up as he continued to drag me down the hall. At the speed we were going it took us a matter of a minute or so to reach the ballroom and he swiftly shoved me inside.

"So…where is the teacher?" I questioned as I looked around the room, the only people there were Alois, Claude and I.

"Claude silly, now then let's begin." He said as he pushed me to the centre of the room.

"Anna, you said you know how to dance, so won't you dance with me?" he questioned, I could hardly say no.

"Alright Alois." I said with a smile and a nod. I placed one hand in his and the other on his shoulder, where as he placed his other hand on my hip, it was a little awkward however as I was taller than him.

"Shall we?" I asked and we began to waltz, he was quite good at it which made me wonder as to why he needed lessons in the first place.

"You're good at this Anna." He complimented.

"Thank you, as are you." I smiled as we continued our dance. As we danced I caught a glimpse of Claude from the corner of my eye, he was just stood there watching us yet it still put me on edge. I sent him a glare making me lose my focus on the dance and almost step on Alois' foot.

"Anna, you're not paying attention, is my butler more interesting than I am?" he complained in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"Of course not, I apologize, shall we continue?" I forced a smile as we continued. We went on for around half an hour, with each step the tension grew until it was almost unbearable.

"Ow!" Alois yelled before falling to the floor. I quickly bent down to aid him as Claude came over to see what the matter was.

"Are you alright?" I frantically questioned fearing I had accidentally stepped on him or hurt him in some way; Claude also must have been suspicious as a look of anger flashed across his face however momentarily it may have been.

"I think I twisted my ankle." He complained as he held his foot. I gave a look of disbelief as I saw the mischief in his eyes.

"Oh no, looks like the lesson will have to end here." I said in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't be silly, I still need to learn the proper steps to the dance." A smirk slowly began to creep onto his face; I felt the irritation grow within me.

"Oh really, well how do you expect to do that in this state?" I questioned, though I already knew what he was going to say.

"You and Claude are going to show me." He answered. I grit my teeth and tried not to cause an argument. I got up from the ground and brushed off my dress before turning to Claude.

"Yes your highness." We both said in unison which took both me and Alois by surprise, Claude may have also been surprised but he didn't show it.

I quickly regained my composure and stepped towards him, it irked me that he didn't show any emotion and I was determined to get some kind of reaction from him. I placed my hands in the correct places as did he and we began to dance. I noticed the full blown smirk on Alois' face now as he watched us. We danced for a while before I decided to begin my plan. As our feet moved I missed a step ensuring that I would step on his foot, even as I stepped on him his expression remained the same and he showed no sign of irritation or anger. My eye twitched but I continued on to the next step of my plan. Once we had danced for a little while longer and I was sure I would take him off guard I tripped myself so I stepped on both his feet, and yet still he gave no reaction. By that point he had pushed me over the edge. I looked up at him and gave a smirk before ramming the heel of my shoe straight into his foot. I became very disappointed and said emotion clearly showed on my face when he didn't even flinch. I looked over to Alois who was trying to hold in his laughter before glaring back at Claude and heading for the door.

"Sorry Alois, I'm in no mood to dance right now." I said as I left before heading out to the garden to get some air.

* * *

><p>The crisp breeze brushed past my cheeks stinging them a little, I couldn't believe how cold it had gotten. I sat on a stone bench in the garden and examined some of the flowers that were when I spotted a purple haired person.<p>

"Hello?" I called to them; he looked at me and hesitated for a second before approaching.

"You must be the gardener here right?" I questioned, his only reply was a nod.

"A quiet one I guess, that's alright, well if you work here you must be one of the triplets right? Once again he nodded.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't keep you from your job." I smiled to him before he wandered off to another part of the garden.

"Lady Hamilton there you are!" I turned my head and saw Hannah quickly approaching me. Once she realised I had noticed her, her gaze met the floor instead of my own.

"Hannah, what is it?" I asked a little annoyed that she still refused to look at me.

"The master has asked that you attend your next lesson with Claude." She replied before pushing me in the direction of the house.

"Well what if I don't want to be around Claude?" I questioned.

"Please miss, do not go against the masters wishes, it won't end well." She pleaded; I gave a depleted sigh as I made my way to the music room, before doing so I waved to her and gave a small smile.

Claude was already in there waiting for me so I made my way to the piano and sat down.

"You're late." He spoke, his voice echoing through the quiet room.

"Let's just get this over and done with shall we." I huffed.

"Alright, why don't you play this." He handed me some sheet music and I looked it over, it didn't seem like much of a challenge but I would give it a try anyway. Or rather I would deliberately mess it up; I wasn't done with my plan just yet. I began to play the notes perfectly and he seemed to be pleased, by that I mean he hadn't told me to start again. I was half way through when I decided to play the wrong notes.

"Please start again." He said no hint of emotion in his voice or playing on his features. I shot him a glare before I began to play the notes in a reverse order just for the fun of it.

"Lady Hamilt-" he started.

"Anna." I finished.

"Lady Annabelle, please take this more seriously." He reprimanded.

"No." was all I replied with.

"Oh and why not?" he questioned, I thought for a second that my attitude may have stricken a nerve, however I was mistaken.

"Because, you didn't call me Anna, or say please, manners are everything you know." I taunted, still no reaction.

"Well I'm done with music, clearly this song isn't challenging if I can play it backwards, so please, let's move on to French." I continued.

"Very well, if you would follow me please." We both stood and he led me out of the room and down to the study. Once there I took a seat and waited for the lesson to start. He began to recite some things in French and then proceeded to tell me what they meant and how to spell them, I wrote down what he told me and made sure I spelled a few things wrong before I began to recite them myself and pronouncing a few of them incorrectly, after all it was the only thing I could immediately think of that would annoy him, I mean what could have been more annoying that having everything you teach go in one ear and out the other…? This went on for a few hours and yet all he did was correct me on my mistakes.

"Are you kidding me?" I finally asked.

"I don't understand."

"How on earth are you remaining so cool and composed, after everything that I have done to annoy you, and you, you just don't seem to be bothered by any of it at all, how is that even humanly possible?" I demanded, for a split second I could have sworn I saw him smirk yet when I looked again he was back to his emotionless self.

"I guess you could say I am very patient and tolerant." I scowled before standing from my seat.

"Well, I guess I will have to try harder then." I smirked before exiting the room.

* * *

><p>I spent most of the day wandering the halls and getting acquainted with the rest of the servants, by the time the sun had set I had met Timber, Thompson and Canterbury, they seemed like nice people, though they didn't exactly say much they sort of just whispered to one another. After dinner Alois left to finish up some paperwork before retiring to his room, I on the other hand wanted to continue exploring.<p>

I wandered down the hallways turning many corners till I found myself near the servants quarters, I decided to go the other way as I didn't think I would be welcome there. I wandered a little more before I came across the kitchen. I stopped outside the door, slowly and carefully I opened the door and peered in.

"Lady Annabelle." A deep voice called from behind me, I shot into the room quicker than I thought possible and turned to face the door.

"Claude, you nearly gave me a heart attack, please do not startle me like that!" I scolded.

"I am truly sorry, do forgive me." He said with such emotionlessness that it didn't sound like a real apology.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are." I shook my head and sighed.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" he questioned.

"What are you, my mother?" I retorted.

"I am merely concerned about your health." He continued, as he also entered the room.

"I am fine I can assure you of that, anyway what are you doing here?" I quizzed.

"The young master has asked for something to eat, I am here to prepare him something." He answered as he past me. I watched as he began to gather ingredients and utensils.

"Oh…that sounds…interesting?" I was at a loss for what I should do so I continued to watch him. I didn't say another word as he worked I just watched in silence.

"Please stop." He finally spoke.

"What?" I tilted my head and stared blankly at him.

"Please stop watching me." When his words finally registered in my head I realised I had started to irritate him. A wide smirk stretched across my face.

"What's wrong Claude am I finally irritating you?" I questioned.

"No."

"Then it doesn't matter if I continue to stare at you in silence then, carry on." I gestured with my hands for him to continue cooking. He gave a sigh before continuing.

In the silence I began to plot my next course of action, I examined the room and my eyes landed upon the ingredients he was going to use. Flour. 'Perfect.' I thought, I could use the flour to create a mess, which would surely annoy him.

"Claude, if you like I could help you." I offered my services and he stopped to look at me.

"That won't be necessary." He replied turning back to the bowl.

"No, I insist." With that I picked up the bag of flour and made my way over to him, I gave him a brief smirk before I _accidentally_ tripped.

"Oops." I said full of sarcasm, I tried to hold in my laughter, his entire uniform was dusted a patchy white from the flour and his hair looked grey. I noticed his eyebrow twitch and a flash of irritation in his eyes.

"Yes!" I cheered a little too enthusiastically that afterwards I covered my mouth with my hand to stop any further outbursts.

"Lady Annabelle, please retire to your room." he suggested, a hint of malice in his voice but his appearance stopped me from taking him seriously.

"No." I replied crossing my arms. For a moment his eyes looked like they were glowing pink and it sent a shiver down my spine.

"Retire to your room." he growled the lack of calm demeanour made me think I took things a little too far.

"I-I'm sorry." I stuttered, I looked back into his eyes but they had returned to their usual gold, I quickly left and headed to my room a little shaken up by what had happened.

* * *

><p>I buried my face into my pillow and tried to hold back the tears that threated to flow. When someone raised their voice to me it always had this effect and I just wanted to crawl into a corner. I was pulled from my distraught state by a knock at the door.<p>

"C-come in." I mumbled, I was surprised when the door opened, I didn't think they would have heard me.

"Lady Annabelle, I've come to help you to get dressed." Hannah explained.

"Yes Hannah I know why you are here, and please just call me Anna." I looked to her and she averted her eyes.

"And for god's sake Hannah look at me!" I yelled. She looked at me shocked and even I was a little shocked by my reaction.

"I'm sorry that was terribly rude of me." I apologized.

"No that's alright I understand." She shook her head as she helped me undress.

"Hannah, do you think Claude hates me now?" I questioned.

"No, I don't think he does, why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's just; I never meant to take things too far." I replied. She helped me out of my corset and then I pulled on my nightgown.

"My lady if I may give you some friendly advice?"

"Yes of course." I urged her to continue.

"Please be a little more careful around Claude, it is best if you don't get on his bad side." She continued. I gave her a nod before climbing into bed.

"Thank you Hannah." I shot her one last glance as she stood in the doorway before I pulled up the covers.

"Goodnight Anna." Was the last thing that I heard and it set a smile on my face as I closed my eyes and let sleep take over.

**A/N:...meh, not sure if I like it or not but I've been busy with college so I haven't really had time to think about writing. I hope it was to your liking, review, fav, follow love to know what you think, I'll update when soon and the next chapter will be better. Also, sorry for the large amount of dialogue.**


	4. Those Golden Eyes

**A/N: woo finally I managed to write this chapter, sorry it's a little short I just didn't know what to put :l, anyway hope you like it :) **

**Ps: the bit in italics is a dream**

**Chapter 4: Those Golden Eyes**

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" I shook my head slightly before turning onto my side and groaning as I felt someone shaking me, a little too violently.

"I said wake up!" when I refused again there was a moment of unnerving silence before icy cold water collided with my body. My eyes immediately opened wide and Alois' smirking face came into view.

"Why you little-" I began as I got out of the now completely soaked bed.

"Don't blame me, Hannah was unable to wake you, so if you want to blame someone, blame her." He replied before I could finish.

"No, it's your fault, you shouldn't pour ice cold water over people when they are sleeping, especially ladies!" I chastised.

"Whatever, if you won't blame her I will, Hannah, come here." He ordered and I watched as the maid warily came closer to him. She stood there for a moment, not looking him in the eyes, if she had she would've noticed the disgusted look in them, it was like her very presence offended him yet I had no idea why, she seemed nice enough, perhaps that was the problem. I continued to watch before he raised his hand, he was about to slap her when, without realising, I reached out and took hold of his wrist and pulled him away from her.

"What do you think you're doing, unhand me!" he yelled as he struggled, trying to escape my grip.

"Hannah, please leave." I asked of her, to which she gave a nod and swiftly left the room, looking back only once.

"Alois, you should treat her with a little more respect, you can't just go round beating servants because you're in a bad mood." I scolded in a calm tone.

"Yes I can, now let go!" he shouted, still continuing to struggle.

"No, you can't, I won't let you." I glared down at him and quickly grabbed his other wrist as he was about to hit me.

"Claude!" he yelled repeatedly, moments later, said butler was standing in the doorway.

"Claude, help me, get her off me!" he demanded and the butler shot me a look of disdain.

"I do believe you are hurting my master." He put bluntly, the conversation from the night before shot through my mind and I quickly released his wrist.

"I-I'm sorry Alois, I didn't mean to hurt you, you will forgive me won't you?" I questioned, doing my best to look innocent. There was a brief silence as he mulled over his answer.

"Of course I will." He replied, though the smirk that had crept onto his face led me to believe that he had some kind of punishment planned.

"Now, why don't you get dressed…Claude will help you." And there it was. A shiver ran down my spine and I could almost feel the sinister aura radiating from Claude due to his new order.

"Don't be too long." Alois' eyes mocked me as he practically danced from the room.

* * *

><p>One could say I was highly reluctant to let Claude dress me, thought it seemed I didn't exactly have any choice on the matter. I stood watching him as he pulled three dresses from the wardrobe, one an emerald green colour, one a deep red and one a sapphire blue. He laid them all out neatly on my bed, it wasn't exactly a hard decision as to which I wanted to wear. I carefully picked up the blue one and examined it closer. It was an off the shoulder style dress, if I were to go out in it some might think it scandalous, oh how I hated the prudes of society. The waist was wrapped in a black lace that had a spider web like design on it which trailed down to the floor on the right side of the dress. The back was ruffled a little to make it look a little more intricate. The other dresses were nice I admit but blue was my favourite colour so I could hardly say no to this dress. After admiring the dress I glanced over to Claude who was stood as expressionless as ever, waiting for me to hand him the dress so he could help me.<p>

"I will dress myself thank you, you may leave." I stated as I made my way behind the screen divider.

"My master has instructed me to help you, therefore I must." He sounded almost brainwashed.

I continued to refuse in letting him help me and within minutes I had gotten out of my drenched nightgown and gotten into my undergarments easily without any help in the slightest. I was so determined to prove I didn't need his help until I got to my corset, I tried my hand at putting it on a tying it however I only managed to get it round me. After a few moments of aimlessly fiddling with the strings I let out a depleted sigh and gave in.

"Actually…I could use some assistance." I mumbled as I stepped out from behind the divider. Luckily he had been standing there waiting. I held the corset to me and turned around so that he could tie it. I could feel the tug of the strings and the corset slowly beginning to constrict around my ribs, how women were meant to put up with their insides being crushed I don't know, the whole idea that corsets were meant to support us was imprudent all in itself.

"Thank you that will do." I spoke; the corset was loose enough to be able to breathe but tight enough to not be improper. My words either didn't reach his ears or he was deliberately ignoring me as he gave one last, rather sharp, pull on the strings almost crushing my ribs and most certainly pushing all air from my lungs, leaving me gasping for breath. I swiftly pushed away from him.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I yelled flustered as I turned to face him. His face bore no expression as if he had no understanding of what he had done.

"Very sorry my lady, do forgive me." He said with a mocking bow. 'Yeah I bet you're sorry.' I mentally growled. I ignored him and tied the strings myself; I wasn't going to let him back near them.

I took my dress and slipped into it taking a second to admire how it looked on in the mirror, a small smile playing on my lips.

"It's beautiful." I breathed. I looked over to Claude who in turn was looking over at me.

"You wouldn't mind would you?" I questioned as I pointed to the buttons at the back, I felt a little anxious letting him near me again, knowing him he would find some way to make fastening a few buttons into a painful experience. He came a little closer and began to fasten them, contrary to what I thought he wasn't inflicting any kind of pain what so ever. His hands expertly moved up the dress, fastening each button until he reached the top one. As he fastened it, his fingers lightly brushed against my spine sending a strange shiver down it and causing equally as strange thoughts to flow through my mind. A light blush spread across my cheeks and I quickly pushed those thoughts to one side. I slowly turned to him and my gaze met his. Our eyes were locked for what felt like eternity, neither of us speaking. I wanted so desperately to look away yet I couldn't bring myself to divert from those magnificent, golden orbs.

As his eyes bore down into mine the thoughts from moments ago crept back into my mind, the way his fingers felt against my skin, so gentle and soft, how easily they could change as they roamed over me…what on earth was I thinking, I tried to push those thoughts away as I turned a very deep shade of red. After all, it would be very appalling for a lady of society to think such things about a man she had known a matter of days, and for that man to be a butler no less, though what did I care about being a lady for, I smirked inwardly before another thought took over my mind.

As our eyes stayed locked the thought of how they seemingly changed colour the other night popped into my mind. That strange pink colour with cat-like slits, I furrowed my brow as I examined their current golden form. How strange it was for a person to have gold eyes, stranger still that they could change colour, but it wasn't the first time I had seen such a thing for back when I had ran away, the maids eyes also changed, I had put it down to hallucinations from the cold but I wasn't so sure anymore. It wasn't long before my curiosity got the better of me and I just had to ask.

"Why did your eyes change colour the other day?" my question took him off guard and for a moment he looked dumbfounded. Once I realised how strange my question sounded out loud I quickly spoke again.

"Please ignore that, it was…please just ignore it." With that I quickly brushed past him and headed down to the dining room.

* * *

><p>Once Breakfast had ended Alois headed to his office whilst I headed to the music room for my next lesson, after today's encounter with Claude I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but then, was I ever looking forward to it. I entered the room hoping that the lesson would pass quickly, only to find Claude wasn't even there. Regardless, I made my way to the piano and sat down. I must have waited for about half an hour and Claude was still a no show. I was thoroughly annoyed. If it had been me that was late he surely would have come up with some kind of punishment and I would have gotten some sort of lecture on punctuality. I got up from my seat and smoothed down my dress before I decided to leave. I took a moment to think about where to go when I remembered there was a library. I always enjoyed reading stories when I was little, all the adventures you could have without even leaving your room, all the characters and the mysteries. Though, as I got older I started to prefer romance novels, the thought of finding ones true love in the most unlikely of places always thrilled me. I once hoped I would find a love like that, one that takes you by surprise, one people thought impossible. However my arranged marriage crushed that dream, or perhaps I would still find love, either way as long as I was away from Alexander I was fine, if only there were some way to escape him for good.<p>

I left the music room and headed towards the library, I past Hannah on the way and she gave me a confused look but I just smiled and kept on walking. Once outside the room I hurriedly opened the door, excited for the adventures that lay in wait within. I walked to the middle of the room and marvelled at the numerous, packed bookshelves, contemplating what sort of book I should read first. It was then that I was startled by a loud cracking sound, followed by the loud pelting of rain against the window, clearly the storms were far from over. I quickly searched the shelves until I came across a book that seemed interesting enough, I pulled it from its place and shuffled over to the window and sat down, book in hand. I recalled when I first became interested in reading; I had woken up from a nightmare and couldn't fall back to sleep, mother thought it was just an excuse and that I didn't want to sleep but my father stayed with me and read me a story until I fell asleep again. He would always read to me when I had a nightmare and I guess that was how I became interested because reading, to me, felt like an escape from the nightmares, somewhere safe.

I opened it and began to read, it was one I had never read before but it seemed fairly interesting, I hadn't picked up an adventure but instead chosen a romance, I guess I wanted once last glimpse at love before I gave up on finding it for myself. I managed at least half way through the book and by this time the rain had become a light pattering sound now against the glass, perhaps it was that sound that made my eyelids grow as heavy as they had and before long they had closed fully and I began to drift into a dream.

* * *

><p><em>I began to hum a lullaby my mother taught me as I played the piano along to it. I hadn't heard the door open or notice that a person had sat down next to me on the stool. I continued to play and hum as I averted my eyes from the keys for a moment to see Claude; we exchanged looks before he began to play along with me. It was strange but for some reason I felt different, a kind of different I hadn't felt for a long time, happy. We continued to play for a short while longer and a smile started to tug at my lips, then everything began to change, everything seemed dark, my vision fading, or rather everything else was fading and moments later I was stood in a dark empty room, that once happy feeling changed to a feeling of fear and loneliness. I began to blindly search for someone, anyone. I didn't care who, I just didn't want to be alone in the darkness. I began to hear the hum of the lullaby so turned in the direction it appeared to be coming from, it was then that I was met by a pair of bright gold eyes amongst the dark, as if those were my escape to freedom, perhaps they were. I began to approach them; reaching out my hand as soon as I got close enough to the person they belonged to. However, those once inviting eyes turned to the ever so eerie pink and I knew I had fallen into a trap, luring me in with the promise of escape only to catch me and take away all hope. Yet somehow, they seemed comfortable, trustworthy, intoxicating but deviant and dangerous. I held my ground as they came even closer and the body they belonged to came into view. My eyes widened at the familiar person and a sense of relief washed over me.<em>

_"My lady." He spoke as he held his hand out towards me, I reached out to take it but as I did he once again started to disappear._

_"Claude, no." I called as my hand slipped through his and again I was left all alone._

* * *

><p>I woke, my head spinning and my vision a little blurry, it was then I realised that during my sleep I had started to cry. I felt a gloved hand brush against my cheek, wiping the tears that had begun to fall away. As my vision began to focus the first thing to properly appear were those liquid gold eyes. I brought my own hand up to his and gave a small sigh of relief when he didn't disappear.<p>

"My lady is everything all right, whilst you were asleep you called my name." he questioned, I felt my face start to heat up as I blushed, who knows what he thought I was dreaming about but either way calling out his name was rather embarrassing. I dropped my hand into my lap as I moved my face away from his hand.

"I'm fine thank you and you must be hearing things, I never said your name." I defended, not that I sounded believable. I watched him straighten up before he bowed at the waist slightly.

"Very well, then I shall be going." He turned for the door but unconsciously I reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. Once I noticed my actions I blushed even more than I had been.

"W-wait what about our lessons?" I questioned a little flustered.

"I believe it's a little too late for those now." He answered pointing towards the window; I turned to look only to notice it had gone dark, though it was still raining that much I could tell.

"You should get some rest in a more comfortable place this time; I will send Hannah to your room to help you." He spoke again; I nodded to him as I stood from my seat, smoothening out the creases in my dress.

"After all, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow." He continued to which I gave him a puzzled look.

"How so?" I had no clue as to what he was referring to; I wouldn't exactly say our lessons took up too much time.

"We are going into town in the morning." He answered.

My heart dropped my breaths uneven. What if someone saw me?

**A/N: so college is killing me, too many assignments so updating is a little harder to do now but I'm trying so yeah, next chapter will be longer for definite and more interesting XD not sure if I should now apologize for the lack of dialogue? anyway see you soon, review, fav, follow, and all that jazz bye :)**


	5. Planning

**Chapter 5: Planning**

The sky looked bleak, just like my mood.

"Honestly Alois, why did I have to come along?" I questioned the boy positioned across from me. That morning had been one big annoyance, I had once again been forcefully awoken by Alois and then made to get dressed before being stuffed into the carriage that I was now reluctantly sat in.

"Because I wanted some company whilst Claude gets some supplies." He replied as his eyes lay fixed on mine. I let out a sigh and began to fiddle with the bandage on my hand, the cut still hadn't healed and I wasn't going to take any chances of re-opening it. I turned my gaze to the window and watched as the trees past by in a blur, and it wasn't long before a blur of trees became a blur of houses as we finally entered town.

The carriage came to a sudden halt, causing me to nearly fall forward off my seat. There was a moment of silence before the door opened to reveal Claude. I waited for Alois to get out before doing so myself. I got out of my seat just as Claude reached his hand into the carriage, I took a moment to decide whether to take it or not before I put my hand in his and was almost pulled from the carriage.

"You could perhaps be a little gentler next time." I stated as I brushed down my dress, my eyes roaming around the hectic street, so many people were out shopping, it was only October so it couldn't have been due to Christmas shopping. The three of us began to make out way down one of the streets until we came across a small toy shop, I wasn't exactly sure as to why we were here but I assumed Alois wanted to buy something as he grabbed my arm and pulled me into the shop.

Although it was only small there was still a plethora of toys, ranging from little stuffed animals to board games and the likes, I however didn't have any interest in such things, I preferred books to toys. We began walking around the shop and it took me a while to notice that Claude had disappeared, probably to go fetch the supplies Alois had mentioned in the carriage. We continued to browse and I watched as he examined various toys and put them down to move on to another.

"Excuse me, May I help you find what you are looking for?" a voice questioned us, we both turned to see the shopkeeper.

"Not really, I'm just looking for a bear or something." Alois stated idly as he turned back to the shelf packed with stuffed animals.

"In fact, I think I'll take this one." He picked up a rather expensive looking teddy bear with chocolaty brown fur and a small blue ribbon tied around its neck.

"My, your son has a very good eye miss." I almost choked on his words, however as I glanced to Alois he seemed to be forcing back his laughter, though his eyes held a sort of look that wished for the shopkeepers words to have been true.

"Oh no, you have it wrong, see I'm not his mother." I quickly corrected, the look on the shopkeepers face suddenly changed to that of embarrassment.

"Do forgive me, it was an honest mistake." He replied, I gave him a nod of acceptance before placing the bear on the counter to be paid for. I took out my purse and handed over the money before picking up the toy and handing it to Alois who was still trying not to laugh.

We left the shop and headed back down the street towards some of the other shops until we came across a sweet shop.

"Let's go in." Alois stated as he was about to grab my arm again.

"Now just wait a moment, as your mother I should advise against buying sweets as they will damage your teeth." I chuckled to which he also began to laugh.

"So, if you are my mother does that make Claude my father?" His statement made me immediately stop laughing and a deep crimson blush burned upon my face, the whole thought of it was embarrassing.

"J-just shut up." I grumbled before dragging him into the shop. We spent at least thirty minutes in there buying various sweets, half of them he probably wouldn't even eat but that didn't really bother me, as long as he was having fun and was happy that was all that mattered. After buying up half of the shop we returned back out onto the main street where we waited for Claude. He didn't keep us waiting long and we all began to head back to the carriage. It was then that I spotted a bookshop I had wanted to go in for quite some time, long before I ended up at the Trancy estate.

"Um, you two don't mind if I take a quick look in here do you, I won't be long so you can go back to the carriage." I gave them a brief smile before almost running into the shop.

The shop had been everything I hoped it would be many shelves lined the walls that were packed with various books, both old and new. I quickly made my way round the shop so that I didn't keep them waiting too long but my eyes fell upon a rather mysterious looking shelf. A small sign above it read the word Occult my eyes skimmed over each title, I became that little bit more intrigued with each book I past. However, my eyes stopped dead once they landed upon the word Demons. I stared at it for a moment before taking it from its place, I was about to open it when a familiar pink ribbon caught my eye. I looked over to where I had noticed it and saw none other than my sister Margaret. I froze; I couldn't exactly escape without being seen as the exit to the shop was over in her direction. I slowly placed the book back trying not to make any noise before manoeuvring around the shelf so that she couldn't see me. I stood there for what seemed like hours, holding my breath as I waited for her to pass by, luckily when she did she didn't notice me and once she had gone I shuffled back out and made my way for the door, however, it seemed I wasn't out in the clear just yet.

"A-Anna, is that you?" she called to me and I couldn't help but turn my head, thus revealing that it was in fact me. She had a look in her eyes, a sad look laced with tiredness; she must have been worried about me after all. Regardless I couldn't go back so I ran for the door and out into the crowded street. As I made my way to the carriage I heard her call after me, begging me to stop and to come home, I refused to acknowledge her and instead I hastily entered the carriage and took my seat opposite Alois and shortly after the world outside began to pass us by.

Once back at the manor I stormed out of the carriage, not waiting for Alois to get out or for Claude to help me down. After doing so I made my way into the foyer where I waited for them both, once they were in sight my fists clenched and my eye began to twitch.

"What did I tell you?" I yelled which took them both by surprise.

"Anna, what's wrong?" Alois questioned, he looked like an innocent child holding the teddy bear, but I knew all too well that he wasn't innocent.

"My sister, saw me, which was exactly what I was trying to avoid, you know, being seen." I scowled at them both and tried to hold down my anger but the more I tried the more that anger turned to tears which threatened to fall.

"I won't go back, I will never go back to that life, so next time when I say that going out in public is a bad idea, I mean it and I won't go with you no matter what your excuse may be, do you understand me Alois?" I tried so hard to stay calm but my voice had faltered letting all my emotion show. His own expression turned into a scowl but I just ignored it and stormed away, I didn't care where my feet took me I just couldn't be in their presence at that moment.

I continued to wander the halls, until I felt myself calm down a little, by the time I was fully calm I had no idea where I was, though it looked vaguely familiar. As my little journey continued I came across a door that was slightly ajar. Gingerly I peered around it and spotted a certain maid cleaning the room. As I wasn't angry with her I stepped into the room and made my presence known by clearing my throat.

"Oh, Anna, what are you doing in here?" she questioned as she continued to dust the mantle of the fireplace.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to walk round and then I saw you." I replied as I looked around the room, it looked almost immaculate.

"Oh, well I have work to do so if you'll excuse me." With that she continued about the room, straightening out cushions and dusting off paintings. I let out a quiet sigh as I pondered what to say next.

"W-well, um…" I started but couldn't think of anything to say to her, which she clearly noticed as she stopped what she was doing and gave me a confused look.

"Is everything alright, you seem a little upset." She gave me a questioning look and I began to fiddle with my bandage.

"It's nothing really, just, well while we were out my sister spotted me and tried to come after me." I finally answered.

"And then when we arrived back I yelled at Alois but I feel a little bad about it now, I mean it's not like he could have known my sister would be there, and in all honesty it was my fault. I mean if I hadn't gone into that bookshop then she never would have seen me, oh god it's my fault not his and I yelled at him, Hannah what do I do?" I frantically questioned once realisation set in. She gave me a slightly amused look as I panicked.

"Anna, calm down, I'm sure if you just go and apologize to him he will understand, now, I really do have work to attend to." Her look was sympathetic now as I took a deep breath and calmed myself.

I left her to her cleaning and made my way back down the halls and headed towards the study once there I knocked on the door and waited to be invited in, once I heard Alois speak I wearily opened the door and entered the room. I dropped my gaze to the floor immediately, I didn't want to see if he was angry with me or not. I could feel his eyes on me and I started to get a little nervous.

"Listen, Alois, I'm sorry about what I said, it was rude and uncalled for, not to mention that it was wrong." I started as I glanced up to see him still sat at his desk, his face void of all expression.

"It was my fault I was seen, I was the one who insisted in going in that bookshop, not you, so I just wanted to apologize and well… I'm sorry." I continued as I watched him get up from his seat and make his way over to me, he still had that bear on him.

"No, I shouldn't have asked you to come with me in the first place, I knew you could have been seen but I just didn't want to be alone." I knew exactly how he felt, in all fairness if I had been left here I would have felt alone, yes Hannah and the triplets would have been around but they had jobs to do, where as I would have been left to roam the halls with no one to talk to and nothing to do.

"Alright, how about none of us are to blame and we just put this behind us?" I suggested as I gave him my best smile. He returned it with his own and then held out the bear to me.

"I don't understand?" I furrowed my brow and awaited his explanation.

"I got it for you; it reminded me of you so I wanted to get it." I looked at the bear, its fur was the same colour as my hair and the bow was my favourite colour, so in a way it did remind me of myself.

"T-thank you." I took it from him and held it to my chest before I felt myself start to giggle at a thought that crept into my mind.

"My, my, trying to suck up to your mother by giving her gifts." I laughed and he joined in, it was only when Claude entered the room that I stopped and Alois' previous remark re-entered my mind and once again a bright blush spread across my cheeks only causing Alois to laugh even more.

When he had finally regained his composure he began to speak again.

"Anyway, I have something I want to talk to you about." He mentioned as he sat back down at his desk, Claude had made his way over and began to serve him some tea.

"I am going to hold a ball." He stated I know we had agreed that, me being spotted, was neither of our faults but him deciding to hold a ball just drops all blame onto him.

"Alois." I said in a firm tone.

"Yes, yes, I know, that's why it's going to be a masquerade ball." He continued, I felt myself ease up a little at this new piece of information, at least with this people wouldn't recognize me. I gave a small sigh of relief before I spoke

"So when will this ball be anyway?" I questioned him.

"Tomorrow evening." He replied, I looked at him speechlessly.

"What do you mean tomorrow, isn't it a little short notice for the guests?" I quizzed. He gave me a nonchalant look.

"Oh you see I had already sent out the invitations two days ago, I wasn't so much as asking your permission more, I was giving you warning." He answered, oh how I wanted to wipe that smug look off his face but I had to remain calm.

"Now then Anna, why don't you go and help Claude prepare for the ball." I was about to mention that I hadn't actually got a dress for the party and I was going to use that as my ticket out of going, sadly he had other plans.

"And before you complain that you don't have a dress, I will tell you now that I have already ordered you one and it will arrive shortly." He stated as he waved his hand at us both, dismissing us, I thought it rather odd that he was asking me to help prepare for the ball when I wasn't even a maid. It wasn't even like he didn't have enough servants to do the work for him.

I followed silently behind Claude as we walked through the hallways until we came across the ballroom, I remembered it from my dance lesson with Alois, and with that the memory of the rest of that day also came back to me. I stopped and looked up at Claude who had already begun setting things out ready, I realised I had never really apologized to him for my actions that night. Not that he seemed like the kind of person to care about such things but it still felt wrong that I left things how I did.

"Claude.'" I began as I continued to watch him, he didn't turn around but he acknowledged me with a slight humming sound.

"Well, I just wanted to say sorry about the other night, I know you probably don't care at all but I just felt bad for being such a pain." I continued, I noticed that he had stopped what he was doing and had turned to face me now.

"My lady there is no need to apologize, I am merely a servant." He stated with a bow.

"Well, yes I know that but I...I mean we got off on the wrong foot and I was wondering if perhaps you would be willing to start again?" I asked, his expression was same as ever, unchanged and emotionless but I hoped what he was feeling was different.

"If it is what you wish then so be it." He replied but it wasn't the kind of reply I was looking for, it was cold and like his expression, it was void of all emotion. It made me wonder if he even had the capability to feel even in the slightest.

"Never mind." I mumbled as I walked over to a tabled and set down the teddy bear Alois had just given me before I began setting out some glasses which would later hold some kind of wine.

I began to stack them all into a pyramid shape and it was turning out quite well, however, the more it grew the less I could reach it and by the time I got to the last three layers I was in need of a stool or something to stand on in order to reach the top. I paused in my stacking as my eyes quickly scanned the room, searching for said stool. It wasn't long before my eyes landed upon one that looked like it could do the job; I grabbed it as swiftly as possible and placed it down by the table before I carefully stepped up onto it. Now that I had the ability to reach the top I began to stack the last few layers of glasses, unfortunately for me, as I placed the last glass my hand slipped and the glass started tumbling towards the floor. I went to catch it only for my foot to slip and I myself began to tumble to the floor.

I closed my eyes tight as I awaited the impending pain of hitting the floor only for it to never…well, hit me. Instead I lay in the strong pair of arms that had caught me. The glass however had no such luck and instead it lay shattered on the ground.

"You really should be more careful." Claude scolded, he didn't put me down and instead I was still being held firmly to him.

"Y-yes you're right I'm sorry." I could feel my heartbeat become unsteady at the closeness and my breath also became uneasy. I let my emotions swirl within me as one part of myself said that I felt nervous because I had feelings for the black clad butler whilst another part said I was just nervous because he was intimidating and that I had no romantic feelings for him what so ever. But the final part of me told me I felt uneasy because he something seemed strange about him, almost inhuman. But at that moment none of that really mattered, all that was important was surviving the ball.

"You can put me down now Claude." I mumbled as I squirmed about a little, once I was back on the ground I bent down to pick up the shattered glass.

"I'll take care of that." With that he bent down and began sweeping it away.

"Thanks." I mumbled as I began to idly play with my hand.

"So, is there any point to me being here I mean it's not like you can't do all this by yourself, and I already made a mess so I bet I'm just getting in your way right?" I questioned him, it wasn't like I was deliberately trying to mess things up this time but, I just couldn't help it.

"No." was the only reply I got; I gave him an irritated smile.

"Well in that case I'll just leave then." I huffed as I picked up the bear and began to exit the room, clearly he didn't care as he didn't try to stop me, hell, he didn't even say a word.

That butler irked me greatly; I didn't understand him in the slightest. Why did he appear so emotionless, was it just easy to work that way or did he have some mysterious hidden past? Why did he have to be so rude to me all the time? And what was with those eyes, I didn't understand but I would make sure I found out soon.

I found myself outside my room and since I had nothing left to do for the day I decided I would rest a little. I pushed open the door and sauntered inside, the most intriguing thing caught my eye. There, lay out on my bed, was a brown ball gown. I examined it further to see that the bottom had three layers too it, the top was a walnut brown, the next a slightly lighter cream shade and the last an even lighter, almost white shade. The top half of the dress had a sort of tribal design in cream etched into the torso. It was off the shoulder however; the most interesting part was the back, as sewn to it was a fox like tail, the same colour as the dress, with a cream tip. On the bed next to it was a brown mask in the shape of a fox's face, it covered from just above my eyebrows to the tip of my nose. Alongside the mask there was a pair of fox ears on hairpins to match the tail. I assumed that this was the dress that Alois had mentioned, I must say, he had a good taste in costumes.

I took it and hung it up on the outside of my wardrobe and let myself admire it for a while longer before I was interrupted by a knock at the door.  
>"Come in." I called, the door slowly opened and Hannah stepped into the room.<p>

"I see you have found the dress the master had made for you." She said as she looked over towards it.

"Yes, and it's very beautiful isn't it?" I glanced over to her and noticed she looked a little worried.

"Hannah, what's wrong?" I asked.

"A letter just came for you." She stated, I felt a bead of cold sweat roll down my back at this news, how had anyone found me. I took the letter and quickly opened it, my eyes scanning over each letter.

_Dear Annabelle_

_It seems I have finally found you; it also seems that I have been invited to the ball tomorrow evening; I look forward to seeing you there._

It wasn't signed which made it hard to tell who it was from since I also didn't recognise the handwriting. I took another look at Hannah and noticed she still looked a little uneasy.

"Thank you Hannah, there is nothing to worry about it was just a letter from the doctor asking if I was alright." I told her, I hated the fact I was lying through my teeth but I didn't want to cause her to worry about me. Though I had the feeling that she knew I wasn't telling her the truth.

"Very well, Anna." She turned on her heels and left the room. I let out a long sigh before dropping down on the bed, I hugged the bear tightly.

Perhaps I wouldn't make it through tomorrow evening after all.

**A/N: hope you guys liked this chapter, I just want to thank everyone who has followed this/ faved this and especially those who have reviewed this because that all means a lot to me, so thanks guys I appreciate it :3**

**So, see you at the ball next chapter :)**


	6. Night of the Ball

**A/N: sorry I took so long to update, college is keeping me busy, but good news is I had my maths paper remarked and I got a C so I don't have to go to maths on Thursday anymore, meaning I have an extra day to write :3 yay, anyway hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 6: Night of the Ball**

I lay awake staring blankly at the ceiling as I listened to the commotion outside my room; once again Alois had been the cause of my awakening. I let out a worn-out sigh as I swung my legs off of the bed and slowly got up. I began to wonder if any day at this place would ever be peaceful, most likely not. I crept towards the door and slowly opened it a fraction, just enough to see what was going on and to be able to hear the conversation better.

"You useless maid, get out of my sight!" Alois yelled, shortly after Hannah stumbled from the room and an empty vase was thrown at her, causing her to stumble back and fall to the floor as it impacted against her head, how the poor woman was still alive I had no idea. I continued to watch as she picked herself up and bowed before rushing off down the hall, at which point my attention turned back towards Alois' door as it was swiftly slammed shut.

"It is not becoming of a lady to eavesdrop on the conversations of others." A masculine voice chastised causing my eyes to dart to my right, only to take in the view of Claude looking rather, well, it was Claude his face was blank but I assumed he was displeased.

"Yes, well I don't care about being a lady so… and besides, it's not very gentlemanly to sneak up on a woman, especially one who is only in their nightgown." I countered before I too slammed my door shut. I paused a moment and waited for the sound of footsteps getting further away, but they never did. I slowly opened the door again and raised a brow in disbelief at the fact he was still stood there like a statue.

"Is there something you want?" I questioned him.

"Breakfast will be at seven, please don't keep the master waiting." He answered before leaving down the hall, probably to fetch Hannah to help me dress.

I didn't have to wait long before Hannah appeared and helped me dress, multiple times during this process she tried to ask me about the letter from yesterday and no matter how many times I told her it was from the doctor she kept asking.

After all that I hurriedly made my way to breakfast, I wasn't eager to eat, more eager to get away from Hannah and her persistent questioning.

* * *

><p>I sat down in my usual seat and took a piece of toast and started to eat it, I wasn't really interested in much else. For once we sat in silence as we finished our breakfast, it was strange as usually he would try to strike up a conversation about something. We were still sat in silence as the table was cleared, it was making me nervous and I began to play with the bandage on my hand, which was when the silence was shattered.<p>

"How is your hand?" he questioned me, I didn't look up as I answered, instead I continued to play with my hand, tracing my finger over where the cut was, buried underneath all the bandages.

"It's healing."

"Good, then you will be able to take off that awful thing for the ball tonight, that way people won't notice and ask too many questions." He continued, I finally looked up and shook my head.

"I think if they saw this…" I paused as I remembered how I got it, the cold rain, the muddy ground which caused me to fall and cut open my hand, more importantly, the reason I was out in the rain in the first place.

"This disgusting mark, then they would ask even more questions than they would if it were covered." I stated but he didn't seem interested in my excuses.

"You are not wearing a bandage and that is that, if you feel like you need to cover it that badly then wear a pair of gloved or something." He stated waving a hand as if to dismiss any further discussion on that topic.

"Now, I have a favour to ask you, since I have more important things to do, I want you to help Claude welcome the guests."

"That sounds more like an order than a suggestion." I mumbled, thankfully no one heard me.

"There is just the problem of, well, someone recognising me." I reminded him and an irritated look shot across his face.

"Like I mentioned before Anna, everyone will be wearing masks, no one is going to recognise you, and considering I _am_ letting you stay here, this is the least you can do for me." A sly smile now graced his features as he watched for my reaction.

"Fine, I'll help Mr. Bland over there to welcome the guests." I grumbled as I gestured towards the butler who was stood stock still over by the wall, if he stood there much longer someone might think he was a part of the wall.

I stood from my seat and excused myself from the table and made my way back to my room to begin preparing for the ball.

* * *

><p>There was a faint knock at the door and I called for them to enter, as the door creaked open it revealed Hannah, a mournful look on her face.<p>

"What's wrong?" I questioned, however she shook her head and gave me a bright smile.

"Nothing my lady, now, how about a hot bath before you change into your outfit for tonight?" she suggested to which I gladly accepted, I needed a hot bath to calm my nerves, there was absolutely no way that tonight would pass by without something happening.

We made our way into the bathroom where she began to run the water. I watched as she poured various oils into the bath, by the time she was done the room smelled of lavender and peppermint, it smelled rather enjoyable. She helped me out of my corset and I climbed into the bath, once the water hit my skin I began to relax.

"Thank you Hannah, I can bathe myself, I'll call for you when I am ready to come out." With that she left and I began to scrub my arms and the rest of my body.

Once I was sure I was clean I called out for Hannah whom I assumed was on the other side of the door. I waited a moment before I called out again. As several more moments past I began to get curious as to where she had gone and as I was about to get out of the bath and find a towel myself, the door opened. However, the person it revealed was not the one I wanted it to be.

"C-Claude…what are you doing...where is Hannah?" I questioned as I quickly clung to the edge of the bath, making sure that my chest was covered.

"Alois has her occupied elsewhere and has instructed that I help you get ready for tonight." He stated before holding a towel out in front of him.

"I believe you wanted to get out now." He mentioned as he stood waiting for me to move.

"Y-yes, if you would be so kind as to look away…" I asked, he did so straight away and I pulled myself from the bath and made my way to the towel, though, I could have sworn I saw him glance at me for a brief moment which sent a blush creeping onto my face and left me feeling rather exposed, so I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around me as quickly as I could.

We made our way back out into the bedroom where Claude grabbed my clothes and set them out ready. I went behind the screen divider whilst I put on my undergarments and only came back round when I needed help with my corset. I wasn't overly fond of the idea of letting him help me with it, especially when last time he almost crushed my ribs, so I was hesitant when I stepped towards him. Luckily for me I hadn't done anything to anger him in the last few hours so he shouldn't have had a reason to murder me. I sighed as I turned my back to him and he proceeded to tighten it before tying it off. Thankfully he wasn't so rough with it this time. Once he was done he helped me into my dress as the many layers of fabric made it too heavy for just one person to lift, though he made it seem like it was the lightest thing in the world.

I took a moment to look myself over in the mirror, I sighed in discomfort at the idea of having to mingle with so many people of society, and ones that I most likely knew. I was so lost in my thought that I hadn't notice Claude fixing my hair so that it was over my shoulder in a sort of twist, it was simple yet elegant. I gave him a smile of appreciation before I picked up my mask. Giving him one last look I placed the mask on my face, as we were about to head down to the entrance to wait for the guests I pulled off my bandage to reveal the gash across my hand, it seemed to be healing nicely but regardless, it was still ugly to look at.

* * *

><p>We stood there and politely greeted each person to the Trancy estate as they entered the manor. This went on for around an hour before everyone had arrived. Once we were done Claude disappeared to go do some task that Alois probably asked him to do and I was left to my own devices. I didn't exactly want to mingle with people in case one recognised my voice but it seemed I had nothing better to do. For the most part of an hour I weaved my way in and out of various conversations and made my way through numerous glasses of wine, though, I still felt completely fine.<p>

The night seemed to be dragging on and there was still no sign of Claude or Alois anywhere which made me feel utterly alone. I began to shuffle over towards a table that was stacked with glasses of wine, though some glasses were missing, the pyramid I had made still had some shape to it. I took yet another glass of wine and was about to drink it when I felt a hand grab my wrist, I turned to see a man in a white outfit; his mask was also white with a few details here and there, unlike everyone else at the party, he resembled no animal. Either way I had never seen him before.

"May I help you?" I questioned him and a devious smile spread across his face.

"Well my sweet fox you could do me the honour of having a drink with me instead of all by yourself." He suggested.

"Sorry, not interested." I put bluntly, to which he gave a feigned look of hurt as he pressed the back of his hand to his forehead in a rather dramatic style.

"I see my little fox is a feisty one, how she teases this hound, however soon she will have to end this hunt and give in to this dog's will." He said flailing his arms in some dramatic gesture I didn't quite understand.

"Not going to happen, now if you'll excuse me." I said as I pulled my arm from his grip and scurried away from him, not before I heard him say something about playing hard to get and making him chase me, his creepiness sent a chill down my spine and I knew I hadn't seen the last of him yet, whoever he was.

I finished my drink and set the glass down on a nearby table as I watched people continue to mingle when suddenly everyone stopped and looked over to the stairs.

"Hello and welcome everyone to my home, I am Earl Trancy, I apologize for being late and want to thank you all for being here tonight, now how about we start this off with a dance?" just as he finished music started to play and people started to grab partners. I however, was not interested in dancing but it seemed Alois had other ideas as he grabbed my wrist and dragged me out onto the dance floor.

"So what took you so long to get here?" I questioned and we took our positions and began our dance.

"I was choosing an outfit, what do you think?" he asked with a look of mischief in his eyes.

"You look good." I smiled down at him and continued to dance, he spun me around and his grin widened.

"You look simply adorable in that outfit, though maybe if it was a little shorter…" he trailed off, probably thinking about the dress being thigh high or something like that.

"Yes, well that wouldn't be acceptable would it?" I laughed as he spun me again.

"No sadly not." He replied, also laughing. Soon after the song ended, we both went our separate ways; he went to talk to some of the guests whilst I went to grab another glass of wine. It was getting a little stuffy in there so I decided to head out into the garden for some fresh air.

I took in a deep breath of fresh air, it was a little chilly outside but the many layers of the dress were keeping me warm so I didn't mind. As I took a sip of my wine I looked up at the sky, it was a clear night so the stars were in view, all in all it was a very beautiful night and the light from the moon illuminated the many flowers in the garden. I was lost in the moment when a cool breeze brushed past me and the sound of footsteps became evident. I turned to face the door to see who was there.

"Can I help you?" I questioned the man, he was rather tall and had a good build, he was wearing a mask that resembled a wolf and the rest of his attire reminded me of someone but I couldn't put my finger on it. Just then music started to play again and he bowed slightly at the waist before holding out his hand to me.

"Of course." I said, smiling, placing my glass down before taking his hand.

His hand rested on my hip and mine on his shoulder, my other hand in his. We began to dance, the way we moved seemed oddly familiar. We danced for what seemed like hours, the cool chill of the night air not noticeable due to how close we were it was like he was shielding me from it. As he twirled me I somehow managed to catch the heel of my shoe on the floor, within seconds I would fall backwards. Just as I was about to he tugged on my arm and I stumbled closer to him instead, not before I had attempted to grab the stone wall behind me as support. Unfortunately for me as he pulled me, the palm of my hand scraped against the wall, sending a sharp pain through my hand. My heart was racing and I could feel the heat from his body which made me blush profusely.

"Sorry." I mumbled as I cast my gaze to the floor it was then that I heard a low chuckle reverberate from his chest. Was he laughing at me! I decided to look back up at him and give him my best unimpressed stare, only I noticed something. Due to how close we had gotten I could see his eyes now, and they were…gold.

I froze on the spot, I tried to believe that it was just a coincidence and that it wasn't Claude but it wasn't exactly common to have that colour eyes. If it were possible I would say my blush became ten times worse and my breathing became a little uneven. I was about to speak when he took my hand in his and examined my palm, as expected my wound had re-opened and blood was slowly running down my arm. The thing he did next shocked me the most, he brought it up to his lips and licked away the blood, sending a disturbing shiver up my spine. I pulled my hand away and watched him lick his lips; I was starting to think that wolf mask reflected his personality. Just then the music stopped and it was replaced with the applause from the guests. My attention turned towards the door for a moment as I watched people spread out and return to talking amongst themselves. As I turned my attention back to the man who could have been Claude I realised he had vanished, much like earlier that evening. I shook it off and returned inside; perhaps the cold night air was getting to me.

* * *

><p>The night was coming to an end, I had previously returned to my room to bandage my hand before going back to the party. By the end it seemed that I had drank perhaps a little too much wine, my excuse was that it helped to calm my nerves but I never thought I would take it too far and become drunk. I stood away from the door as I watched people leave, afraid I might say something stupid or offensive. I hadn't noticed but I had started to hold onto the table, one that now held many of my empty glasses, in order to keep myself upright. I watched who I thought to be the last person leave when I felt someone tap my shoulder, I slowly turned to them, making sure I didn't fall over in the process.<p>

"Yes?" I questioned, squinting at them and tilting my head to the side slightly, as if that would help me any.

"A letter was given to me along with the instruction of giving it to the girl dressed as a fox; I assume that means you, so here." They explained as they pushed a letter towards me.

"T-thanks." I slurred as I took it from them carefully, its contents would have to wait to be read as I was clearly in no state to do anything but retire to my room and sleep it off.

Once everyone had left I began to stumble my way up the stairs, luckily I made it to the top without slipping and toppling down the stairs like an idiot. Though, once at the top I spotted a very familiar black clad butler.

"Oh hey Claude." I giggled as I past him; honestly I should've kept my mouth shut.

"My lady you are drunk." He stated.

"Pshh, no I'm not." Seriously, I wasn't exactly convincing anyone; to top it off I finally stumble and ended up a mess on the floor. He shook his head before bending down to me.

"What are you doing?" I squeaked as I was lifted up. I was now being carried bridal style by the most emotionless person I had ever met, and who may well have been the man I had danced with earlier, plus I was drunk and could end up saying anything to him. If that wasn't embarrassing I didn't know what was. I remained silent as he carried me to my room, as he set me down on the bed I began to unbutton the back of my dress without giving him warning. I smirked as I watched him quickly turn away from me.

I somehow managed to undress myself and get into my nightgown without tripping or breaking something. I crawled into my bed and yawned as I pulled the covers up over myself, as I did Claude turn back around to face me. It was then that my tired drunken side fully took over.

"Claude, what happened, where did I go wrong?" I mumbled.

"I don't understand my lady?" he raised a perfect brow and gave me a questioning look.

"What did I do to make you hate me so much?" I questioned further.

"I don't hate you."

"Then why are you so cold towards me, is it because of what happened the other night, I told you I was sorry didn't I…did I?" I continued.

"My lady I think it would be better if you just rest for now, you aren't thinking clearly." He was about to leave when I spoke again, this time I was barely conscious and I barely knew what I was saying.

"More importantly…what are you?" I mumbled, through half lidded eyes I thought I saw his own eyes change colour if only for a moment, then my head hit my pillow and I was soundly asleep.

Somehow I had managed to survive the night, even if I was drunk. However the next day I would have to apologize for any inappropriate behaviour I may have had, as well as read the letter I had just received. Things were certainly going to be interesting.

**A/N: thank you for the many favs, reviews, follows, I'm going to start writing the next chapter ASAP so, hopefully I wont be too long. keep following, faving etc. etc. Bye~**


	7. Old Faces

**A/N: so I finally got chance to update, I'm currently away so internet access it limited :l but anyway enjoy the chapter :3**

**Chapter 7: Old Faces**

Morning came sooner than I would have liked, that meant all of three things, another day had past and my fiancé still hadn't found me, I had wasted another day doing nothing and finally, somehow I had managed to get through another day of hell with the Trancy butler.

A sigh escaped my lips as Hannah helped me into one of the new dresses Alois had ordered for me, it was a floor length royal blue dress, it wasn't overly detailed but then it wasn't like I had anyone to show it off too.

"What's wrong my lady?" she questioned as she finished buttoning up the back of the dress.

"Nothing really, it's just…it's almost November and no one has found me yet, and to my knowledge no one has bothered to even come looking for me…it all seems a

little odd." I answered as I turned to her, a weak smile on my face.

"Oh I see, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." She didn't sound too convinced herself, I was about to say something else when the door opened.

"Claude, is there something we can help you with?" I questioned raising a mocking brow.

"Hannah, don't you have other tasks to be taking care of?" he ignored my remark and shot a glare towards the maid who quickly curtsied to me before leaving the room.

"Is that what I am now, a _task_?" I shot him my own glare as I folded my arms over my chest.

"My lady, your presence has been requested by his highness, if you would follow me to the study." He left the room before I could even protest, I quickly took the letter I received yesterday, out from under my mattress, clearly I was in the right mind enough to hide it, and just as quickly I stuffed it down the front of my dress, doesn't sound very comfortable I know, but I had nowhere else to hide it.

I followed quietly behind him as we made our way down the hall. When I was sure he wasn't paying any attention to me I took the letter out and scanned over it.

Dear Anna

You looked wonderful last night, I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to speak to you, perhaps I will this time, I know you don't want to come home so I will meet you half way. In the woods not far from where you are staying there is a small cottage, I will wait for you there until morning, come whenever you wish. I promise I won't ask you to come home, just please, let me talk to you.

Your Loving sister

Margaret.

She was wrong, it wasn't like I didn't want to go home, it was just that I knew that if I did then my wretch of a fiancé would try something again. But, I had to speak to her, even if it was to only explain why I left, I just had to.

We stopped and I quickly hid the letter again before looking up at Claude.

"What was that?" he questioned, his gaze was cold as per usual.

"What was what, I don't know what you are talking about." I replied, feigning innocence.

"You really are terrible at hiding things." He responded, his eyes narrowed as they bore down into me.

"I really don't know what you are talking about." I insisted.

"I don't like liars." He sneered.

"Yes, and I don't like you but you don't see me complaining, now I do believe you have other _tasks_ to attend to, so if you'll excuse me." I retorted as I pushed past him and entered the study where I was met by a bored looking Alois.

I made myself known by clearing my throat, as soon as he looked up his bored expression left and was replaced by a rather mischievous playful one.

"Ah good, you're here." He cheered as he motioned for me to take a seat.

"If this is about what happened last night while I was…not myself then I would like to apologize." I spoke.

"Even if I don't exactly remember what happened…" I mumbled the rest, and I was sure he hadn't heard me.

"Don't apologize, it was entertaining and besides, there was no harm done, the Trancy name is still intact." He replied with a slightly worrying smile.

"Now that that's out of the way, why don't we discuss your schedule for today?" I looked at him with a questioning gaze, I presumed my day would go as normal, lessons, dinner and then I would retire for the night. Of course, when was anything that simple?

"I don't have any work to do so why don't we spend the day together?" he gave me a hopeful look, but in all honesty I just wanted to do my lessons.

"Well, actually I wouldn't mind doing the lessons Claude had planned for today…" I spoke, hoping he wouldn't be too angry. I hoped for too much.

His glare felt like it would stab me to death, either that or the menacing silence would. I tried my hardest to avert my gaze but then thought that doing so might just anger him even more, so resorted to staring him straight in the eyes.

"Tell me Anna, do you enjoy Claude's company more than mine?" he hissed and I flinched a little.

"N-no that's not-"I tried to answer but he cut me off.

"Do you fancy Claude?" he asked, a sickeningly sweet tone tainting the words.

"That's absurd, he's too stubborn and mean and well he's not mean but he's too stoic!" I tried to defend myself as best I could without shouting or being unconvincing. In all honesty that butler was just too creepy. He paused for a moment as he thought over what I had said, luckily enough his expression softened.

"Alright, well the sooner you finish your studies the sooner we can spend time together, so just go." He waved his hand to dismiss me before he returned to his bored state. I quickly stood and scurried from the room before he changed his mind. Outside of said room I ran into the Trancy butler himself.

"C-Claude, I thought you would be waiting in the music room…" I stated. He didn't say anything, he just looked at me with a slight hint of anger on his face, for once he was showing some sort of emotion, if only slightly. Though maybe not the best emotion…

"D-did you hear that c-conversation?" I stuttered, feeling a little hesitant about the situation.

"We have a lesson to do, please stop wasting time by conversing with me." He finally spoke, his tone sounded a little harsher than usual. I didn't say anything more instead I found myself silently following him again.

* * *

><p>"Wrong, play it again."<p>

"I've been playing this piece for the last half hour!" I complained, knowing that he would only glare and insist I play the piece again.

"You have gotten it wrong for the last half hour, so, play it again." He replied.

"But…"

"No buts, the sooner you get it right the sooner you can move on, we don't have all day." He chastised before pointing to the top of the music sheet.

"Fine, whatever." I grumbled as I began to play the segment again. Moments later I hit the wrong note.

"Again." He sighed, he looked about done with this. I huffed as I threw my hands down onto the keys making a very obnoxious sound, causing me to wince a little at it.

"I can't do it, why won't you just accept that so we can move on!" I groaned.

"Because you need to learn, you are an adult now, you should already know how to play such simple things as this." I looked at him in disbelief as I picked up the sheet and held it out in front of him.

"How on earth is _this, 'easy'_, look at all those notes, how am I meant to learn all these, I'm sure not every woman knows how to play this." I said in frustration. Truth be told I wasn't exactly focussing, all I could really think of was that letter, and I had to figure out how I was going to get out of the manor without being seen.

He took the paper from me and placed it back down on the piano.

"Alright, do you really want to know why I can't play this, or much of anything else unless it's short and simple?" I questioned, not really sure if he even cared.

"Yes." He spoke, his tone had gone back to bland again.

"Alright then…" I paused for a moment to think things over before I explained them. I took a deep breath before I began my little story.

"Back when I first found out I was to be engaged to some stranger, I made a deal with my mother that I wouldn't marry until I had finished my studies, I already explained how I prolonged them as much as I could just so I didn't have to get married…" I looked over to him to make sure he was still paying attention, surprisingly he was.

"Well, during my lessons I would slack off, not pay attention or just be annoying, needless to say I got through many private tutors." I almost laughed the words.

"So the reason I am so bad at this is because I genuinely am bad at this, I try to pay attention I really do but part of me still thinks that if I get through all this then I will be forced into marriage…so it's hard to pay attention I guess…" I explained. I looked back up at him and examined his expression and waited for his reply, but none came. I shook my head and sighed as I stood up from my seat.

"Never mind, it's not like you care anyway…I need some air." I mumbled before almost charging out of the room and down the hall, it took me a few minutes to reach the garden.

* * *

><p>I sat on a small stone bench as I looked out over the rest of the garden, it was quite peaceful outside, just what I needed. I could hear the faint chirp of birds in the distance, it was relaxing. I closed my eyes as I listened, thankfully it was a nice day with very little clouds, though it was still quite cold. It was then that heard a rustling noise and my eyes shot open and I looked around to see where it was coming from. I watched as a crow hopped out from one of the nearby bushes, it stood staring at me for a good few minutes before it was startled and flew off.<p>

"Hello?" I called out as a familiar gardener appeared.

"Oh Timber, how are you?" I questioned him, he looked at me for a moment, a slightly confused expression on his face before he mumbled something, I think he said he was fine.

"Good…it's a nice day isn't it?" once again his reply was very quiet but it made a change from all the loudness of everyone else, especially a certain blonde.

"Why don't you come join me?" I suggested as I patted the seat next to me, he hesitated a moment before taking me up on my offer. I watched him with a smile as he sat down.

* * *

><p>At least an hour had past and he told me about the different flowers in the garden and what a few of them meant, it was much better than that stuffy music lesson with Claude. However, he did have a job to do and so he had to leave, not before picking out one of the flowers and handing it to me. He seemed like such a sweet person, I was just glad I never heard what he and his brothers whispered to each other.<p>

I sat back in my seat and looked up at the increasing number of clouds, sadly it looked like it was going to rain. I was too busy staring at the sky and trying to make shapes from the clouds that I hadn't noticed the person stood in front of me, it was only when they spoke that they got my attention.

"My lady, it's getting quite late, you should return inside now." A certain butler said. I looked at him with a blank expression.

"Why do you care about when I should return inside?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes slightly.

"My master would prefer that you don't become ill again." He answered.

"Oh so you only care because if I became ill I would be an inconvenience." I scowled as I abruptly stood.

"Well I don't _want_ to return inside!" I huffed and he looked down at me with an unimpressed expression.

"You have missed your lessons because of your stubbornness, how do you expect to learn?" he questioned as he took a step closer so he was now towering over me, I would have stepped back if the bench hadn't been there.

"Well…I…that's beside the point, I wouldn't have missed them if you had said something, anything would have done, I told you something personal and you just completely ignored me!" I had almost yelled as my anger grew, he was changing the subject once again, avoiding the reasons as to why I did something and just complaining about missing his damned lessons.

"You know what, I don't care, and I don't even like you so why would I even want your sympathy!" I yelled as I forcefully pushed past him. I was about to return to the house when he grabbed my arm and spun me around. I glared up at him and I felt tears threaten to fall, but I wouldn't let them. He looked at me blankly for a moment before his eyes fell upon the purple flower pinned to the top of my dress. A brief look of anger, or maybe jealousy shot across his face.

"Miss Hamilton, you may not like me but I have been assigned the task of teaching you, so whether you like it or not, I _will_ fulfil all my duties, even if that means dragging you to your lessons kicking and screaming, do I make myself clear?" he growled, I grit my teeth as I pulled away from him, I wanted so badly to slap him but I knew it wouldn't get me anywhere so instead I ignored him like he did me and stormed off inside. If I had anywhere else to go I would leave, just so I could get away from him!

For the rest of the evening I remained in my room, it was around ten when I decided how I was going to get out without being noticed. I planned to steer clear of the servants quarters and I would find another way to reach the side entrance, from there I would head to the stable and get one of the horses. That would be a lot easier than going on foot. After that I would ride out to the cottage and meet my sister, everything after that would just be improvisation, hopefully I wouldn't be gone too long.

As soon as the clock struck half past I gathered up a few things, one of those being the dagger that Claude rather reluctantly gave back to me after a long talk I had with Alois and the letters I had previously received. With those items in hand I carefully crept out of my room, cautiously examining the hallway as I did, making sure I didn't run into anyone like the last time. I slowly made my way down the halls, every now and again I would check behind me, things were suspiciously going well, maybe too well. It didn't take me too long to figure out a way to the side entrance without passing the servants' quarters, and luckily enough I never ran into anyone.

I stood at the door, it was the only thing left between me and my sister…well that and the hundreds of trees I would have to navigate through. I quickly turned the knob and dashed out, I almost forgot to close the door behind me. Once I was out I hurriedly headed for the stable, thankfully it didn't take me too long to saddle up one of the horses, and not too long to figure out how to mount it. Unfortunately for me I had never had riding lessons, so had very little clue as to what I was doing…I didn't really think my plan through.

I held the reins tightly and dug my heels into its sides and then we were off, I had to pull back on the reins a little as it was going too fast for my liking.

Quickly I rode off into the forest, I didn't look back, afraid that somehow that damned butler wouldn't be far behind. I wasn't going to give up this chance to see my sister, I at least owed her an explanation.

The moon was high in the sky now and I appeared to be deep in the forest, not entirely sure as to where I was though. I had slowed down since I no longer feared being chased. There was a cold chill in the air, but then, it was only a matter of hours until it became the first of November.

Everything was quiet really, which was a little strange, I didn't even hear any owls or the rustling of foxes, but I didn't think too much of it until something spooked the horse. She reared up and I tried to keep hold of the reins and calm her down at the same time only to fall off and hit the cold hard ground, that would surely leave a mark. I watched as the horse charged off in the direction we had come from, great, now I would have to walk.

I quickly got up and brushed the leaves and twigs off of my dress, noticing I had torn the hem I bit my lip as I thought about what Alois would say, or rather, what he would do. No, that didn't matter, all that mattered was getting to the cottage and seeing my sister. With that thought in mind I continued on my way, ignoring how my feet started to ache as the hours past.

I guessed that it was nearing one in the morning, I took out the letter and read it again, noticing that it stated she would ony stay until morning, hopefully she meant the break of dawn.

I took notice of a small clearing up ahead and quickened my pace, soon a small cottage came into view and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw a light in the window. She was still there. I broke out into a sprint, or at least, a faster walk as my feet were killing me. I approached the door and waited a moment, thinking over the many ways our conversation could go before I knocked on the door. The light blinded me as the door was quickly opened, revealing the cosy looking interior, and a figure sat over by the fireplace.

**1 hour ago:**

It didn't take the horse too long to return back to the manor, its neighs caused disturbance and the angry shouts of the Lord Trancy for the animal to be silenced. To which his butler exited the manor to see what was wrong with the animal. It didn't take him long to notice it was one of their own, and only slightly longer to notice the torn bit of blue fabric that was stuck to the saddle, and on further examination he recognised the fabric's owner.

**Now:**

I slowly made my way inside, looking around the room as I did.

"H-hello?" I stuttered.

"Well, well, well, I'm surprised you came, although, with the promise of seeing your dear sister, how could you resist?" the mysterious figure stood from the chair and turned to face me, my eyes widened and my breathing quickened as realisation hit.

"Alexander…what the hell do you want?" I hissed, a smug look was plastered on his face as he watched me.

"You didn't honestly think you were meeting with your sister, she thinks that you and I are on a little trip before our wedding, honestly your family are quite thick." He chuckled.

"How dare you!" I growled, I kept my distance as I didn't trust him in the slightest.

"Oh…I dare, now then, let's get to the point here shall we, you are going to return with me, marry me and then I will share in all your wealth and we will live happily ever after, the end, how does that sound?" there was an evil glint in his eyes and his voice was laced with that very evil. How could he for one second expect me to go willingly, to a life of torture, maybe if I was naïve and believed he would change, but honestly, I'm not that foolish.

"Or, here is the better option, you leave me and my family alone and go find some other woman to leech off of?" I suggested, my own words were dripping with venom.

"Hmm…no, and you don't exactly have much of a choice either." He motioned his hand towards me and that's when I felt a strong pair of hands grab my left arm whilst another pair grabbed my right.

"I see you brought friends." I stated, I tried my best to stay calm but I could feel a lump forming in my throat, my fear was almost choking me, I really didn't like the thought of being violated by three people, or one for that matter.

"So, shall we go?" his tone had become harsher now and he began to walk closer to me. It was then my adrenaline kicked in. I stamped on one of the men's feet and elbowed the other in the face, a cracking sound was heard and the guy doubled over in pain as he held his nose. Sounded to me like I broke it.

"You can't escape that easily bitch!" he hissed before I kicked him in a rather painful area, I didn't wait to watch him fall to his knees, instead I threw the door open and ran out into the cold night air, or rather, morning air.

I didn't look back as I darted through the forest, as unlucky as I was it had gotten foggy out, thus making it ten times harder to see where I was going. I kept running straight until I hit something hard, but it wasn't a tree. I fell backwards and landed on the floor once again. I groaned as I rubbed my back. In the distance I heard the shouts of the men from before.

"I need to get out of here." I mumbled as I tried to get back up only to be pushed back down. Through the fog I just managed to make out the familiar shape of the butler I claimed to hate so much, though, at that moment in time I couldn't have been happier to see him.

"Claude what are you doing here." I breathed as my eyes widened a little. He replied with a shushing gesture and the sound of footsteps grew louder. I did as he said and remained quiet.

They stopped and stared daggers at Claude who seemingly remained calm.

"Oi, you, why don't you just give us the girl and we will let you live?" one of the men suggested and for a second I thought he might take him up on the offer and I was about to protest when I became dizzy and my vision blurred more. It seemed the cold had finally gotten to me. Just then I noticed the glint of a knife and one man charged form Claude, I went to warn him but nothing came out and I gave in to the darkness as I fell backwards, hitting my head on something hard. Before I fully lost consciousness my ears were filled with the sounds of terrified screams and a cracking sound. After that there was nothing but the darkness of the void.

**A/n: so I don't know which of the triplets is the gardener or if there is a set one so I just improvised, hope you liked this chapter it was a pain to write so it might be a bit crap. Anyway, fav, follow and review :) Bye.**


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